Future is bright for Britain’s regional cities

Regional cities in the United Kingdom represent good opportunities for value-add property investments thanks to increased devolution and a growing private-rented sector (PRS), according to Alexander Pelopidas, a partner at law firm Rosling King.

Pelopidas says that devolution to the regions in the United Kingdom, which has given birth to new mayoralties, will drive new investment and regeneration. This will create investor opportunities as local councils invest in urban regeneration projects closer to city centers. With declining retail sales and the “death of the high street”, he believes this trend is set to accelerate in the long term.

“Expect to see greater council investment in ailing retail centers with the aim to transform them into mixed-use developments responsible for creating new communities,” says Pelopidas.

“A fresh approach [which looks] at re-zoning declining urban high streets as residential housing would certainly be welcome.”

This will provide a further boost to the fledging PRS sector in the United Kingdom, which has already seen investors clamoring for sites and pipelines to produce developments. Pelopidas says these cater for a wide variety of renters, from single young professionals to families and retirees.

“The U.K. government’s growing recognition of this type of housing stock in its previous planning white paper and the advertised success of schemes mean the institutional investment can’t be far behind,” he adds.